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CURRENT LITERATURE.

The Art Journal. (Virtue and Co.)—This magazine improves- under the new management. The dull, old, line engravings are being gradually discontinued, and in their place are etchings of consider- able merit, and fac-similes from pencil and chalk drawings. Some of these are very good, some indifferent, some bad, but, in the main,. the improvement is considerable. Mr. Burne Jones's delicate draughtsmanship suffers, as might be expected. Mr. E. J. Poynter's,. on the other hand, is most successfully reproduced. There are some fair examples of Herkomer's and Haig's etching, and a good example in the same medium from Albert Moore's painting. Perhaps the most interesting of the sketches here given is a fac-simile of Sir Frederick Leighton's original design for "The Daphnephoria," wonderfully well executed in grey and white. The letter-press is, as a rule, unassuming, but dull, and suffers from being written to the- pictures.